The present invention relates to energy storage and transformer devices and, more particularly, to a device for storing kinetic energy of rotation in the form of potential energy of a compressed fluid and for reconverting the potential energy of the compressed fluid to kinetic energy of rotation. Furthermore, the present invention relates to devices for transforming various forms of available energy into various forms of needed energy. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a device which converts available energy in the form of kinetic energy or in the form of electrical energy to a needed form of energy, such as potential energy of compressed fluid, kinetic energy of rotation, or electrical energy.
Historically, various single purpose devices have been designed for converting one form of available energy into a specific form of needed energy. For example, windmills have been designed to convert the kinetic energy available in the motion of air to kinetic energy for the purpose of rotating a grinding wheel to grind flour. More recently, windmills have been designed to convert the kinetic energy of motion available in the motion of air to electrical energy. Still other single purpose devices have been designed, for example, to convert electrical energy into potential energy of compressed fluid, for example, for driving tools powered by compressed fluid. Generators, motors, and alternators have been designed to convert energy from kinetic energy of rotation to electrical energy and from electrical energy to kinetic energy of rotation. These and many other single purpose energy conversion transformer devices have been in widespread use for many years.
Until recently, however, the most common energy transformers in use were those that converted either to or from electrical energy. This was due to the ready availability of electrical energy from huge power plants distributed by a large network of power supply lines.
However, the recent increases in cost of electrical energy, due mainly to the increases in the cost of fossil fuels used to generate the electrical energy at the power plants, have resulted in an increasing tendency for the user of energy to attempt to use many other available energy resources, such as the kinetic energy available in the wind or in flowing water, and such as solar energy. Additionally, excess energy may be available from existing rotating machinery, which energy may be recovered with a suitable energy transformer.
Therefore, it would be useful to have an energy transformer capable of receiving input from the various available energy sources and capable of converting this available energy to a useful form of energy. Preferably, such a device would permit storage of the available energy in some form until it was needed. Furthermore, such a device would preferably be capable of supplying output energy in the form in which it is needed, such as in the form of kinetic energy of rotation, electrical energy, or potential energy of a compressed fluid.